Favourite Lures when fishing The Cape??

[Scorcher]

I'm just putting the finishing touches to my "arsenal" of fishing lures for this years trip to the Cape.

To start with, I'm not into Fly Fishing, with hard bodied and (more recently) soft plastics being my choice of attack.

Once you start packing an array of lures to suit the pelagics offshore, Barra and Mangrove Jacks in the rivers, then the freshwater species further up the rivers, the dollars start adding up, and you also need to consider the amount of space these take up within the vehicle.

I'm wondering what lures you lot prefer to use, and have had success with?

For me, I've tended to stick with the Halco spoons for the pelagics, have had amazing success with the Nilsmaster Stalwarts and Invincibles when chasing Barra and Jacks in the rivers, and had a field day in the freshwater on small barra, saratogo & sooty's using Rattlin' spots (or cheaper K-Mart versions).

What do you use?????

Scorcher

[batesy]

Hey, Scorcher, don't mention this to Ant ... but 'Gold Bombers' are the go! Just sit back and wait for Ant to bite...

Also the smaller green bomber that Halco makes with the 2 treble hooks.

[Scorcher]

Hey, Scorcher, don't mention this to Ant ... but 'Gold Bombers' are the go! Just sit back and wait for Ant to bite...

Also the smaller green bomber that Halco makes with the 2 treble hooks.

Thanks Batesy.

Yes, I read somewhere else about Ant's love affair with Gold Bombers.

I've got a few of the originals packed away. There's so many similar copycat lures out there these days, at half the price, that I like to have a mixture anyway.

When the fish are biting their heads off, and aren't fussy, I'd rather feed them a $5 copy, than a $12-15 original. Bring out the good ones when they are fussy I reckon.

Scorcher

[Nedly]

When chasing the pelagics I like to use chrome lures, not the ones with a reflective strip stuck on.
Not that this will help, I do like an old lure made by a mob called Maverick.
Can't find them anymore.
They were a solid lure with solid brass rings, lovely.
I've only got one left, caught a nice Queenie with it last year.

I'm going to give the poppers a go this year, have got several different sizes and colors to try.

Personnel thing, but I hate soft plastics, hard bodies lures are the ones for me. Going to give those noisy rattler ones a try also.

[Nedly]

When looking for lures check out the throw away table at your local tackle shop, can get some bargains sometimes.
Picked up a couple of nice shallow running hard bodied lures on the weekend, supposedly reduced from $26.95 to $8.95.
Another time, in another store, I picked up a couple of Ridgeback lures for something like $4.95 ea, gotta be happy with that.

My lure count for the trip currently stands at something like 60, hopefully that's enough, though I'm always looking for more.

[Scorcher]

When looking for lures check out the throw away table at your local tackle shop, can get some bargains sometimes.
Picked up a couple of nice shallow running hard bodied lures on the weekend, supposedly reduced from $26.95 to $8.95.
Another time, in another store, I picked up a couple of Ridgeback lures for something like $4.95 ea, gotta be happy with that.

My lure count for the trip currently stands at something like 60, hopefully that's enough, though I'm always looking for more.

Hey Nedly,

I wish I could only say I had 60 lures. Each year I seem to go up there, lose maybe half a dozen, but buy 5 times that many each year to replace them.

In the last month, I think I've picked up 49 new lures. And before that, I had a "soft plastics" moment, when I found them 1/2 price at Rebel Sports, and ended up with at least 100 or more.

As I said before, I've got quite a lot of the tried & proven ones - Nilsmasters, Halco's & Rattlin' Spots, but try to mix them up with some much cheaper look-alikes.

Has anybody out there tried any of the Krazy Kritter range of lures, made up at Innisfail?? I just bought a swag of them on Ebay, just to give them a try.

Scorcher

[ant]

For an honest opinion, take a variety of lures including: poppers, fizzers, deep and shallow diving minnows in a mix of sizes. Colour is secondary to the size, placement and action of the lure. If you are buying 'cheaper' alternatives watch out for the quality of the gear on them. I go through all my lures and make sure they have heavy duty split rings and good trebles ('VMC' are a good brand, as are 'Owner' if you want to pay more money).

For the fresh I just can't go past the little Halco Scorpions - they are dynamite on sooty grunter, saratoga, barra, jungle perch, etc.

Plastics work well too but like any lure, it will depend on where you are as to what will work on the day. I pretty well only use plastics in the fresh (billabongs particularly) and rig them with the Gamakatsu weedless hooks.

A word of caution: Do not fish with barbs on your hooks. Barbs were first used to keep bait on a hook - you don't need them on a lure. Think about where you are going to be fishing. The hospital is a long way from the water and the last thing you want is a lure stuck into you, a mate or a family member to ruin the trip.
As you may have guessed, I hate barbs on hooks more than I hate those bloody gold things Batsey mentioned earlier- Blasphemy!!!!!!

[Nedly]

Hey Nedly,

I wish I could only say I had 60 lures. Each year I seem to go up there, lose maybe half a dozen, but buy 5 times that many each year to replace them.

In the last month, I think I've picked up 49 new lures. And before that, I had a "soft plastics" moment, when I found them 1/2 price at Rebel Sports, and ended up with at least 100 or more.

As I said before, I've got quite a lot of the tried & proven ones - Nilsmasters, Halco's & Rattlin' Spots, but try to mix them up with some much cheaper look-alikes.

Has anybody out there tried any of the Krazy Kritter range of lures, made up at Innisfail?? I just bought a swag of them on Ebay, just to give them a try.

Scorcher


60+ is my count at the moment, still got plenty of shopping days before we head up there.
I will be picking up a few more this weekend.
My wife is going away for a couple of weeks, who knows what will happen while she is away ;)

There's also a good selection of lures on display at Weipa.

[Lushy]

Hooks with barbs can be removed with some local anesthetic and a bloody good pair of side cutters. With no barbs a piece of fishing line is used to pull the bloody thing out quickly by pulling at the hooks turn away from the skin, this is how we do it at my Emergency Dept I am a nurse at. Still a size 3 or 4 size hook is so painfull looking hanging out of a finger or arm - youch.
Only 4 months to go for our trip north. Lindsay and I have collected 15 lures of of a couple of sorts, soft imitations and a growing collection of weighted flys of the Clouser pattern I have been tying - bring it on!!

[highlift80]

hey Lushy I have a fish hook in the finger story from 15 years ago after what turned out to be a great fishing trip this is the story myself and the girlfriend left home out Lilydale way in Melbourne at around 0200 am in the morning drove down to Lake Bullen Merri down at Camperdown it was a about a four hour drive we hit the water just on sun up I was armed with half a dozen of these little lures called Benett Baby Merlins I had heard these lures were producing the goods trolling in the crater lakes so I thought I would have ago with in 1 minute of dropping a line in the water within 50 meters of the shore I had a hook up a nice size Chinook salmon around 4lb in the old scale as Rex would say I couldnt believe my luck, so lure back in the water off we went again it wouldn't of even been another minute then bang another fish got him into the boat he was another nice size salmon this place is great I was thinking so lure back into the water within a minute again bang another fish this time it was a rainbow trout he was another big sucker he measured around 50 cm in length lb's don't remember anyway he was jigging aroung in the boat and I was trying to remove the tail treble hook from the trouts mouth when ahhhhhhhh No 2 treble hook in the finger, the treble hook in the middle of the lure had caught my right pointer finger as the fish was thrashing around and it went right in and deep with the barb on it there was no way it would come out so I sat there and pondered what to do the girlfriend who was a nurse suggested we had best head back to shore and go to the local hospital mmm bugger that I thought as I sat there with this big bastard of a rainbow trout stuck to my hand get them there side cutters in the tackle box there and cut this damn hook off I said to the girlfriend which she did well then that's that she said let's go, I don't think so I didn't come all this way here to have this happen at 0730 in the morning then head back home we are stayng for a few more hours at least I said which we did we got back home at about 6 o'clock that night fish hook still in my finger the end tally was four rainbow trout and thirteen salmon with eight salmon released back into the water as they were only little buggers what became of the hook you ask yourself well it's still in my finger 15 years later.....hahahahaha
Nah a trip to the local bulk billing medical clinic a tetnus shot a local anesthetic and the hook was cut from my finger it didn't come out easy either as the point of the hook was stuck in the bone..lessons learnt yep should of listened to the ol man and removed the middle treble hooks and filed down the barbs as he told me to do a few days before our departure. Anyway I haven't been back to Bullen Merri since if I ever move back home to Vic I might have to take my young bloke down to one of the Crater lakes for a fishing trip ensuring of course that we have our barbless hooks..

[ant]

Ouch!!
Nice to hear that you 'soldiered on' and got a few more fish. I rekon that everyone that fishes at least knows somebody who has the unfortunate accident of a hook embedded in part of their body. Only last week a mate of mine caught his buddy through the ear with a lure. Lucky for him (his buddy of course) the hooks were barbless (thanks to my input and constant ear bashing over many years) and the hook pulled straight out.

I personally don't know why people still use barbs and better still, why lures are sold with barbed hooks.

[Scorcher]

Ouch!!
Nice to hear that you 'soldiered on' and got a few more fish. I rekon that everyone that fishes at least knows somebody who has the unfortunate accident of a hook embedded in part of their body. Only last week a mate of mine caught his buddy through the ear with a lure. Lucky for him (his buddy of course) the hooks were barbless (thanks to my input and constant ear bashing over many years) and the hook pulled straight out.

I personally don't know why people still use barbs and better still, why lures are sold with barbed hooks.

Maybe we could start posting our favourite "lure caught in body part" photo's.

Maybe Anthony could put up a prize for the best shot !

Now I just need to work out this photo uploading caper !!

Scorcher

[ant]

Great idea with the pics- post away.
I am actually running an article soon in the other publication I edit and layout (NQ Fish and Boat) on barbless hooks and have had a few readers send me in their pics. Some of them really make you think twice about using barbed hooks.

[Stacky]

I'm just putting the finishing touches to my "arsenal" of fishing lures for this years trip to the Cape.

To start with, I'm not into Fly Fishing, with hard bodied and (more recently) soft plastics being my choice of attack.

Once you start packing an array of lures to suit the pelagics offshore, Barra and Mangrove Jacks in the rivers, then the freshwater species further up the rivers, the dollars start adding up, and you also need to consider the amount of space these take up within the vehicle.

I'm wondering what lures you lot prefer to use, and have had success with?

For me, I've tended to stick with the Halco spoons for the pelagics, have had amazing success with the Nilsmaster Stalwarts and Invincibles when chasing Barra and Jacks in the rivers, and had a field day in the freshwater on small barra, saratogo & sooty's using Rattlin' spots (or cheaper K-Mart versions).

What do you use?????

Scorcher

My favorites are 'Scorpions' and 'Tilsans' but i have a large variety of different types of hard bodied lures and all at different depths.
This Cod was caught and released on a 'Classic Barra'.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh107/Stacky74/Fishing/BigCod.jpg

[highlift80]

I picked up some new lures a few days ago after a recent trip to the Big Smoke well Dubbo anyway Oar-Gee and Jackall lures they are supposed to be good on Yellowbelly and Murray Cod they have the small metal balls in them so they rattle I havent used these type of lures before but I will be giving them a go in the Darling River in the next few days hopefully, They have got barbed hooks too, Ill have to introduce this lot to the mill file.

[plucker]

Hi guys, new to posting here so be gentle.
Nice groper there Stacky although it would be live bait for the one I saw in that river system you live near. When I first saw the big fella, I thought it was a Gum tree floating down the creek until I saw the familar spots on the fins move.
Back to Scorchers topic, for the creeks up there, I prefer Tilsans in the 3 inch size (Barra baits I think) as they have held together pretty well over the years compared to most. They also have a metal beam through the middle of them that the trebles attach to. They wont rattle like the plastic jobs out there as they are timber.
You will probably need a few different depths as well in other makes.
With luring the creeks, there are so many factors to involved. Temp, water clarity, depth, tidal movement, weather, all change the outcomes. Also a good rod and reel makes it more enjoyable too.

[dave]

These ones i picked up on ebay cheap as chips ! through wire constuction
thay look fantastic the finish on them ,
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e374/dave720gtr/100mmCrystal_1.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e374/dave720gtr/110mmPop_1.jpg
how do i remove the barbs ant ? on 25 lures is there a easy way

dave

[ant]

Dave,
The first thing to do would be to remove the split rings and hooks on all of those and replace the splits with Halco 3X splits and then get your hands on some VMC trebles (probably size #2 for those lures). The barbs can be removed by squashing down with a pair of pliers, or a 'Dremel' style tool. The advantage of the Dremel tool is that the barb is removed entirely whereas the pliers can sometimes leave a small amount of the barb raised and this may still catch if the hook goes into you.

You can buy barbless hooks in some places but these are quite expensive (brands such as Owner still have some barbless hooks available in Australia) and it is easier and cheaper to do what I have listed above.

[dave]

ok cheers ant ! will do just that 3 x splits and remove all barbs as you say you dont need them . to hard to remove them from your hand or were ever thay might end up stuck in you !:rolleyes:

[dave]

been have a play in the creeks down here trying out the new 200B reel
spooled it more then once .hehe ! been beefing up the cheaper lures with vmc forged 6-2s helco splits ,like ant sugested
heres a few more i picked up ! for the cape,
flats rats 2 , mad mullet, scorpions gold/ king browns. bleeding mullet,ect'"
and pick up a a few jackall crank baits.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e374/dave720gtr/SLUGS004.jpg

[Scorcher]

Hey Dave,

It's hard to know when to stop buying, isn't it.

I went crazy buying a heap of lures off Ebay, just to suppliment my already rediculously "over the top" collection of good (read: expensive) lures.

At last count, I was into the hundreds of lures squirrelled away in every corner of my car.

I think I only lost about 6 lures on the trip.

The "Ebay" lures definately needed beefing up of the terminal tackle, but did the trick.

At least I now have plenty in storage for my next trip to The Cape.

Scorcher

[dave]

Yeah spot on scorcher Some times you come back with more my boss was fishing lake monduran huge barra in their hooked up on a snag a branch and pulled up 35 good barra lures big birds nest of braid ,

[Stacky]

That's some nice lures there Dave. They look similar to those little Rapala's and probably only a quarter of the price. They'll do the trick for Barra up here.
That story about your boss sounds like he found an underwater tackle store.

Sometimes when we go beachcombing on a remote bech up here we find lures with no hooks that have been washed up. Mostly poppers for some reason. I reckon it's people are getting smashed by big GT's over reefs and when the hooks rust off the popper floats to the surface and eventually finds it's way to a beach. I have been able to clean a few up and reuse them.

[dave]

yeah he manged to retreive about 15 of them recons he could not hold it up to get to the rest off ! hehe' the funny thing about the hole story is that some of the lures he returned home with were his mates harhar and he wanted them back after the boss braged about finding them . he work out it was the same spot. barbarhar!!!!!

i think you on the money there stacky ! for sure with them popper washing up
them poppers in pic have gills that let water and bubbles out the side
and rattels standed with vcm black nickle hooks fitted ,110mm long ,32grams

the catch is thay come from singapore and take 14-28 days to turn up !
$24 all up posted for 3 poppers in pics

[geoffjy]

Hi Schorcher, there are several good lures that are working up around Seisia at the moment.
-Halco Lazerpro's for the maccy's and trev's
-B-52's, Goldbombers seem to be doing really well on barra and jacks at the moment
-Tilsan barra, bright green and orange, these are the best one up here atm for jacks
-Chromies for all the tuna, queenfish around the creek mouths and offshore
-Some poppers, any sort will do, but they are working well on the big queenies and trevs at the moment.
-And of course some plastics are good to. Especially around rock bars at the moment, have been catching some big fingermark on them.

Fishing around the Tip atm is pretty good. Went out last weekend and got 18 big barra (3 were over the metre mark), a couple of 3kg fingermark, jacks, bream. Quite a good weekend overall really. Tbe boys around here are getting some nice mackeral and tuna too.

Geoffjy

[ant]

Hi Schorcher, there are several good lures that are working up around Seisia at the moment.
-Halco Lazerpro's for the maccy's and trev's
-B-52's, Goldbombers seem to be doing really well on barra and jacks at the moment
-Tilsan barra, bright green and orange, these are the best one up here atm for jacks
-Chromies for all the tuna, queenfish around the creek mouths and offshore
-Some poppers, any sort will do, but they are working well on the big queenies and trevs at the moment.
-And of course some plastics are good to. Especially around rock bars at the moment, have been catching some big fingermark on them.

Fishing around the Tip atm is pretty good. Went out last weekend and got 18 big barra (3 were over the metre mark), a couple of 3kg fingermark, jacks, bream. Quite a good weekend overall really. Tbe boys around here are getting some nice mackeral and tuna too.

Geoffjy

Hey Goeffjy,
Any chance of some pics to satisfy the poor buggers like me who aren't up there at the moment??

[dave]

HAR yeah me to! heres a short vid ant if your bord pretty cool fishing and riding the cape
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFRWkDETOkk&feature=related

PNG adventure fishing trip!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_Hk86i9VpA

[Scorcher]

Hey Goeffjy,
Any chance of some pics to satisfy the poor buggers like me who aren't up there at the moment??

And I reckon' GPS co-ordinates of where he caught those big BARRA !!

Scorcher

[ant]

HAR yeah me to! heres a short vid ant if your bord pretty cool fishing and riding the cape
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFRWkDETOkk&feature=related

Dave-Great link-great footage. I guess you don't watch that one too often now as all it would achieve would be more tears!!

[dave]

yeah harhar ! the png ones better .the cape makes me feel like riding up with a broken wrist,,:rolleyes:

[geoffjy]

And I reckon' GPS co-ordinates of where he caught those big BARRA !!

Scorcher

Mate, im afraid the GPS co-ordinates were lost somewhere down the track but if you get up this way i might be able to remember a couple of good spots (if you know what i mean).

[Scorcher]

Mate, im afraid the GPS co-ordinates were lost somewhere down the track but if you get up this way i might be able to remember a couple of good spots (if you know what i mean).

Hey Geoffjy,

I needed to read this before I went up there at the end of May.

Now I'll have to wait until my next trip in 2010 !!

Will you still be living up there then??

Scorcher

[geoffjy]

Hey Geoffjy,

I needed to read this before I went up there at the end of May.

Now I'll have to wait until my next trip in 2010 !!

Will you still be living up there then??

Scorcher

G'Day Scorcher,

Not 100% sure what i will be doing by 2010. All i know is that i will be running the museum and info centre for the next 2 years or so. After that things get a little blurry. If you know anyone that needs any info about the Bamaga, get them to get in touch with me.

Geoffjy

[Nedly]

G'Day Scorcher,

Not 100% sure what i will be doing by 2010. All i know is that i will be running the museum and info centre for the next 2 years or so. After that things get a little blurry. If you know anyone that needs any info about the Bamaga, get them to get in touch with me.

Geoffjy

We stopped at the Info centre/museum last year, full of very interesting stuff, and the lady at the desk was very helpful.
We'll be calling in again this year, check to see if anything has been added and maybe by another souvenir or 2.

Les

[geoffjy]

I look forward to seeing you then Les. Hope your trip goes well.

[jackslayer]

yeah harhar ! the png ones better .the cape makes me feel like riding up with a broken wrist,,:rolleyes:

Thats the spirit Dave, dislocated my shoulder a week before a trip up north and still when't away. Gold Bommers and mad mullets still in the takle box with a host of others, like you blokes , wallet is always empty when i walk out of a tackle shop.